


Not Just A Killer

by backtrack95



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Banter, Bisexual Male Character, Blood and Violence, Comfort, Falling In Love, Fear, Friends to Lovers, Guilt, Gun Violence, M/M, Male Friendship, Memories, Mercenaries, Moving On, Nightmares, PTSD, Partnership, Slow Build, Soldiers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-25
Updated: 2017-05-31
Packaged: 2018-06-10 15:12:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,152
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6962122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/backtrack95/pseuds/backtrack95
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The small pouch of two-hundred and fifty caps jingled as he retrieved his pack from the fire pit. It reminded him of Jack all over again and how much he missed having someone by his side, someone he could depend on no matter what.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Less I Know the Better

**Author's Note:**

> Jack is my sarcastic but very kind, big lug of a sole survivor :^)  
> The chapters will switch between Jack and RJ's POV's and there are potential main story spoilers!

_‘Of the people. For the people.’_

_Oh brother._

Jack thought he had been long past phased by the anomalous Boston wastes he woke up to just a couple months ago. Yet, here he stood borderline baffled in Goodneighbor beneath the rain which wet the dried blood on the pavement and created an almost nauseating stench of rotten iron. And not just within the settlements walls, but behind them as well. Maybe it was the fresh blood that spewed from the man named Finn who had been shanked to death in front of Jack by the town’s own Mayor Hancock. Though the ghoul seemed nice enough, he wasn’t who Jack needed to see and he didn’t want to dwell anymore on the events that had just transpired. So he took a step over the man’s dead body to go deeper into the infamous realm of crime he had heard so much about.

Fluorescent and pink sat the Memory Den at the heart of the town like a jewel. But Nick wasn’t here yet and Jack needed a stiff one to take the edge off the fresh memory of bashing Kellogg’s temple in.

_In 100 years, when I die, I hope I go to hell just so I can kill you all over again you piece of shit._

The British robot wasn’t as kind as Codsworth, but he appreciated the assertiveness the Third Rail had to offer. Jack originally intended to wind down, but word was Hancock needed some warehouses cleaned out and he could do with extra caps while he was here. And he was well adapted enough to understand that cleaning was done with blood. A lot of blood, as he realized he couldn’t fit the number of warehouses on one hand. He noted this to himself amusingly. It was the little things that kept him sane. But it was the back up in combat that kept him alive at times. So when Charlie mistook him for a merc (maybe he was at this point) and hinted to the one named MacCready hold up in the back of the bar, Jack let the music around him and the idea of ordering a whiskey slip from his mind. _“Should we take this outside?”_ He found himself lurking silently behind two gunners and a rather small (and grumpy) looking blonde man.

“In case you forgot, I left the gunners for good.”  
“But you’re still taking jobs in the Commonwealth.”  
It was evident that the ex-gunner was MacCready and he hopelessly wanted nothing to do with the two gruff raiders that confronted him. “I don’t take orders from you… not anymore.”

The words sent Jack’s thoughts barreling into a flashback where he saw himself young and fresh faced adorned in an even fresher military uniform. It was before he was married to Callie. Before they had Shaun. Before _everything_. He was in his early twenties at least and had seen his first tour in Alaska just shy of the Chinese invasion in Anchorage. They told him they wanted his combat skills to assist in a strike on China in their own invasion to help relieve pressure off the U.S. coast.

Jack didn’t want to kill anymore, _‘I don’t take orders from you! I can’t…’_  
But under an extent of military pressure, he went to China anyway. He ponders too often if riding out his career until retirement was truly worth it. Even with the fancy power armor and the decorated medals that no longer meant anything more than dust in the wind. Even now, especially now, as he watched this kid who was easily no older than twenty-two fend off a couple of men he _used_ to take orders from.

“… Why don’t you take your girlfriend and walk outta’ here while you still can.”

That seemed to ruffle the darker raider’s feathers and Jack couldn’t hold back a brief smirk. The voice of the two laid it out straight that the only reason MacCready was still alive was because they didn’t need a war with Goodneighbor and it made him wonder just how far this kid’s reputation ran exactly or if these guys were more intimidated than they were letting on. Winlock spewed some bullshit about respecting people’s boundaries, but Jack could recall many instances that Gunner’s had raided an unsuspecting settlement just for the hell of it. The only thing keeping them from drawing their weapons was that every single person in this town was also armed to the teeth, even that singer probably, and they’d be dead before anyone could count to three. They were flattering themselves if they thought Hancock would even bother with a war.

“If we hear you’re operating in gunner territory, all bets are off. Got that?”  
“Ya finished?”

 _Good_.

Jack stepped coldly past the two men as they passed without meeting their daggering gaze that he could feel for a split second at the back of his skull. His eyes instantly met MacCready’s which were scornful and bright blue like the eyes of a healthy baby. The young man seemed taken aback by him only for a second before he let his expression relax back into its scowl from before.  
“Look pal- if you’re preachin’ about the Atom or lookin’ for a friend you got the wrong guy. If you need a hired gun... then maybe we can talk.” Jack second guessed for a second if this guy had just read his mind.  
“’Might just be your lucky break. But first- tell me about those guys back there.”  
“A couple of morons lookin’ to climb the ladder to success by stepping on everyone else on the way up. That’s how the gunners are.”  
“A cult of raiders, right?”

  
MacCready’s tough guy routine melted into a smirk that almost mirrored the one Jack had released earlier. They had a similar appreciation for being snarky, but he was already frowning again and back to business. Said he ran with the gang because the money was good, though he never fit in. Jack knew right away it was because this kid had a conscious that a lot of people in this life had lost, even if MacCready didn’t know it yet. The cynical melancholy that surrounded him told Jack that maybe he already did know.  
  
The two sized one another cautiously. Considering the fact that Jack was adorned in an armored vault jumpsuit with a solid fire arm slung on his back, the mercenary probably had more unanswered questions than the ladder.   
“What about you?” MacCready’s tone became underlined with more suspicion to match his guard. _“How do I know I won’t end up with a bullet in my back?”_  
“You don’t. All part of the risk.”  
He seemed to oddly be set at ease. “Can’t argue with that.”  
“Jack.”  
“RJ. Two hundred and fifty caps up front and you’ve got yerself an extra arm and a leg.”  
_Gee, what a bargain_. "Deal.”

The two men clasped each other’s arms in a firm, sealing handshake and never let their eye contact fall. Because of that, Jack felt something pass between them. He could tell RJ felt it too as his face had almost relaxed into a soft curiosity. It was like a warm spark he could feel spread from the middle of his chest to the tips of his fingers. Then, for just a second longer, Jack suddenly started to admire how attractive MacCready was. All of that faded away as soon as their arms dropped to their sides again and the music snaked its way back into the room. “So… what now?”  
Jack looked at him questionably as he tried to reclaim his thoughts and the impatient mercenary scowled again. “You’re my boss.”

“Before I found you I was going to down a whiskey.”  
“Yeah? Then what?”  
“Then I found out that the good ol’ mayor needs his warehouses cleaned of a few bad eggs. Catch my drift?”  
MacCready’s mouth curled into a mischievous smile that almost got Jack’s blood pumping. His eyes became shadowed under his military cap. “Mopped with blood. I get ya. You’re already speakin’ my language.”

He couldn't think of any way to currently drop the ball that he was also in desperate search for his missing son. Soon enough they'd have to step foot into Doctor Amari's dome and then RJ would know everything. Jack briefly entertained the small possibility that he had just found more than a hired gun.

 


	2. Reality in Motion

MacCready felt blind sighted.

 _First_ , he hears about some guy in a vault suit running around the Commonwealth out of nowhere all of which sounds too familiar. Second, the same dweller makes a coincidental detour and lands on the Third Rail’s doorstep. Then, he finds himself hired and fighting alongside the big blue guy in almost no time flat. And RJ thought the only business he would ever have with him was just that- chopping down anyone that got in their way for a good share of caps. They’d split after a month or two when one of them ended up dead or MacCready got bored and wanted a better job.

 _Now_ , after what he had seen in the Memory Den, RJ tried his best to bat away that gnawing sense of curiosity that made his nerves twitch. Helping someone find their child was something that MacCready naturally got behind. He didn’t care about what this guy had seen, but he knew that wasn’t true. He didn’t _want_ to care. Yet somehow every time he looked at Jack the questions would bubble up and RJ found himself wondering quietly with a deep set scowl. It gave him a headache. _Is he really over two-hundred years old? Did he really loose his family… like that?_ It was a foreign feeling of compassion that MacCready hadn’t really felt for anyone but his son; at least since his Little Lamplight days.

 _‘… Heh. I was right. I should have killed you when you were on ice.’_  
Jack took the synth detective violently by the collar of his shirt and let off a sudden impulsive, dangerous air that made even MacCready flinch. _‘You wanna try for round two?! **Let’s go.** ’_ His shout startled almost everyone in the building, maybe even cracked the foundation itself, and RJ rushed swiftly to pull him off Nick whose voice had once again become his own.  
_‘… What? What are you talking about?’_  
_‘Wait… were you just playin’ a joke on me?’_

They had booked it out of Goodneighbor not too long after that. Once they fought their way out of Southy, they traveled the road west towards ground zero. It had taken over a day of comfortable silence, sprinkled with very small talk of directions, before they made enough distance for Jack to be able to map out the nearest settlement on his pip-boy. It took another two (maybe three or four) more days of traveling, this time including a conversation here and there as the men had time to warm-up to one another. He was a little pleased to find that they found eye-to-eye on a lot of things.

MacCready didn’t know what impressed him more- that the Minutemen really _were back_ or that Jack was the general of the whole thing. The settlers of Somerville were an older couple with two daughters all of who had thick Commonwealth accents and they greeted them with open arms because the _‘general’_ had saved them from a feral ghoul threat in the past. Feral ghoul was a word that made RJ’s blood run cold in an instant. Thinking about them made him want to scream. In that case he wasn’t too keen on the idea of having to go to the ass end of the Glowing Sea for the possibility of getting a lead on something seemingly impossible. Teleportation was alien talk. And he hated aliens.

However, the unpredictable man who currently polished his assault rifle with a scrapped piece of leather had proved to be a good example of the resiliency of the human spirit. He sat upon a small makeshift wall of concrete blocks that had been set around the fire pit. The light from the fire reflected off Jack’s sun-kissed features, showing the small hint of freckles that fluttered across his nose like stars. He looked up at RJ who watched him under the furrow of his brows.

“Toss me some glue? She’s gotta’ loose stock thanks to that one Triggerdick. You know, the one out of those hundred?” MacCready resisted the urge to snicker and instead silently retrieved a bottle of adhesive from Jack’s bag and the pack of cigarettes from his own. He gave it an uninterested toss before walking away in which Jack nearly fumbled the catch in confusion at the man’s cold shoulder.  
“Thanks, RJ.” Judging by Jack’s smile, he was probably more amused than anything.

A rare breeze washed over MacCready’s skin as he lit the cigarette resting between his busted lips. He looked up at the sky that was adorned in ribbons of midnight blue clouds where the last remnants of the sun peaked through the horizon. The fading row of orange left by the sun matched the dragging amber and he released a satisfying billow of smoke into the darkness. It was a natural painting that reminded him of Lucy. Maybe she was up there somewhere watching him back. MacCready reminded himself it was just a sky that could easily be washed away by a radiation storm. He tried not to dwell as much as possible. It just made him sad.

The peaceful moment was shattered when MacCready heard the shrill sound of a women’s scream come from behind him. Just as his heart dropped he turned and the cigarette fell from his lips. He drew his rifle with practiced ease and down the scope in the lantern light he found the mother fallen prey to a human shield by a raider. _Where in the heck did they…?_ Before he even had a chance to hold his breath and pull the trigger, MacCready felt a powerful blow to the back of his head. Everything went white as he hurled down with an involuntary grunt, rifle flying from his grasp, and his face found purchase with the ground in no time which reopened the busts in his lip.

Now he was _truly_ blind sighted.

Gun fire thundered through the air around him followed by fallen cries, making it difficult for him to get his bearings. His ears rung heavily. MacCready tried to ignore the hot pain that pulsed in his head as he rolled over to find that he could kind of see clearly again. At least, he could have sworn it was the barrel of a 38. Pistol that he staring down. “Lights out, motherfucker.”

RJ felt frozen.

_Not like this._

He saw the combat knife punch through the raider’s skull with an unsettling crack. Like the sound of a thousand bones breaking. They let out a cry that made MacCready’s skin crawl with hints of pain. Especially as Jack ripped the knife from between their eyes and the blood gushed like melted tar. They were dead before they even hit the ground. A gentle, firm grip slid around Mac’s arm and Jack helped him to his feet and handed him his weapon. “If they had aimed just a little lower they might have-“  
“ _Tch_ , I know.” MacCready snapped as he yanked his arm away and took his rifle. He struggled with whether to admire or feel irritated at Jack’s selfless heroism. Overall he was relieved that he had gotten his perception back, any snipers important asset.

“Where did these asshol… gah- _jerks_ come from?”  
“They’re raiders. Night time they go balls to the walls and try to steal all the food and water they can carry from every poor soul that’s got it.”  
  
MacCready wiped away the blood that trickled down his chin before looking down his scope to check for anymore advancing enemies. He only saw three littered raiders, including the very first one he had seen. The father and his daughters, though respectfully fearful, were armed with pistols but at the moment they had regrouped. Jack waved to the bystanders, “There’ll be more!”  
The oldest girl gave him a thumbs up. MacCready looked at Jack questionably.

“Four is a _pretty_ low number to conduct a raid, dontcha’ think?”  
“Then what are we standing out in the open for?”

As if on que, they both heard the clink of a grenade and dashed for cover. The grenade ripped through the air and the nearest car had taken just enough of the shockwave to cause it to explode in a mini nuclear blast that made Mac’s teeth shake and his already aching head to pound more. One of the settlers- maybe even a raider- screamed in shock. Both he and Jack were shoved to the ground in a second. The boys were far away enough to only endure that much, but it was still overwhelming. MacCready got to his feet. He sprinted to the left before the ground stopped shaking. It was hard to concentrate through his migraine, but he caught sight of a raider advancing through the radiated smoke.

 _ **BANG**_.

The raider’s head snapped back as the bullet planted itself like a bullseye. He then dashed for cover behind the row of concrete placed by the fire pit just in time to see Jack ruthlessly fire a hand full of rounds into two other advancing raiders. MacCready wrinkled his forehead; this vault guy was almost _too_ good at combat for someone that had just spent a couple centuries frozen in time.

MacCready felt determined to come back from letting his guard down earlier and to show Jack that he was as good a shot as him. A _better_ shot than him. When he heard the raining clank of gunfire from their flank, he dashed from his cover like a bat out of hell. Without even having to glance down the scope, he loaded three shots into the more armored one coming from the right of the house. Lefty was taken off guard.  
“ _No_! Don’t you die on me-“  
_**BANG**_. Single shot in the skull and MacCready had him down. He felt a churn in his stomach.

Abruptly everything around them went still, signaling that the battle was finished. The raw stench of smoke and blood surrounded what would hopefully once again be a safe as can be home. MacCready lightly panted as he slung the weapon back around him and he removed his hat to run his hand through his light hair. The locks were practically caked in dirt and sweat just like the line of his forehead, but he was more than used to it. He was more concerned about the pulsing in his temple.  
A hand came down his shoulder that made him tense up into a small jump. Once he saw Jack, who was somehow not panting at all, MacCready relaxed. “You impressed, yet? I'm a pretty damn good shot.”  
“Mmm… I don’t know,” Jack teased. “I haven’t really noticed.”  
“Aww come on. Three head shots ain’t good enough for ya? You’ve got skill, sure you know talent when you see it…”

Jack chuckled softly and followed it with a charming grin that made MacCready reflect on how strappingly handsome this guy was. Even through the blood and dirt. He felt his heart flutter.

“Thank you! Oh, _thank you_ , again!”  
The white-haired mother flew into Jack to gift him a grateful hug. MacCready noted the blood stains in her hair and he grimaced. She was rather small and practically swallowed in Jack’s arms as he loosely held the hysterical women. “You’re all safe now.” His voice was so soothing that it would have made even a deathclaw feel safe. The rest of the family quickly approached to reclaim their mother and grant Jack and MacCready their unconditional appreciation.

“I’ll tinker a turret together to leave you with some defense till I get a couple minutemen out here to assemble more.”  
“It really means a lot ya know. Please, you boys camp out as long as ya like. We keep extra beds around for the caravan's and what not.”  
MacCready stayed silent since he was very unaccustomed to being treated like a hero. He had wondered how Jack could give without expecting an ounce in return. But a part of him understood something after their sudden turn of events: all that mattered to Jack was that he _helped_.

The small pouch of two-hundred and fifty caps jingled as he retrieved his pack from the fire pit. It reminded him of Jack all over again and how much he missed having someone by his side, someone he could depend on no matter what. And it reminded him that he now owed his life to this man that expected nothing in return. Then it dawned on him.

“Hey, Jack. Gotta' sec?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> first time writing a full on fire fight, hope it was groovy!


	3. Mind Mischeif

_“… You sure they’ve taken that whole over pass?”_  
“Positive.”  
MacCready flashed Jack a side smirk.  
“Said you’ve taken out gangs of raiders by yerself didn’t ya? This really so hard to believe?”

Jack didn’t respond.

They crept behind tuffs of bushes that held the same hue of radioactive rot as the rest of the damaged earth, watching a litter of ruffians and an Assaultron patrol the Mass Pike Interchange. It was well after sunset and they were nearly half an hour away walking distance. At least, that was their estimate. Jack felt a breeze wash over him. He needed a moment to think of their next move. It had taken them a while to get here, but they had done it nonetheless.

After their spook in Somerville Place, they started the grueling work of looting the corpses. Jack eventually got down to assembling a turret. It had taken almost all night and a cat nap. MacCready first had pulled him aside to, in his own way, ask for help. He told Jack all about how he had run with the gunners for the caps but couldn’t handle their homicidal way of running things. The situation with Winlock and Barne’s was much graver than he had let on and Jack knew he still wasn’t being completely up front with how much potential danger they were in. Sure enough, one of their attackers kept the orders hidden away in their harness.

This particular company of gunners were near following them. Which meant, in the gunners eyes, MacCready and Jack would always be in their territory and they would always have to watch their backs.

MacCready knew where they were hold up. Since the two boys were already on course towards the Glowing Sea, they planned to continue their search for Dr. Virgil. No raider or gunner alike would willingly head all the way out to nuclear hell. Not even for a couple handfuls of caps. MacCready pointed out that the gunners could lose track of them this way. This was a reassuring observation, though Mac showed obvious apathy to their next destination and Jack had to admit- so did he. So to keep the spirits relatively high, Jack stitched together a hooded cloaked- with the aid of the youngest daughter- made from an old sheet. Thankfully but unfortunately, he had found his own sometime back off of a merchant he couldn’t save from a raider. 

As rested and ready as can be, the boys trekked on through radscorpians and the choking radiation storms that were only slightly more bearable through rad-x and the shelter of their hoods. After a while, Jack wasn’t sure if the constant clicking of his pip-boy or just the very thought of _being here_ was going to drive him mad. Once they reached the ‘children of atom’ ( _the apocalypse was real weird_ ) he felt an intensity in his chest that made him want to scream. All he could think about in the deepest crater of the underworld was, _I saw this. I saw this happen_. 

Virgil was the first friendly super-mutant Jack had the pleasure of meeting. A former Institute bio scientist that was researching the cure for super-mutants until it all went wrong and he became one. The poor doc escaped by the skin of his teeth. Jack felt for him, but he needed answers: how to teleport into the Institute? _“How do I find my son?”_  
“A _courser_. Track the radio signal at the university ruins and get their teleportation chip.”  
MacCready was just as sour about the Institute as the rest of the ‘Wealth and so he showed indifference on actually coming face to face with one of their ‘soldiers’. He was also visibly tired and almost fresh out of complaints. But Jack knew just how to play their cards right with CIT on the edge of Southy. The boys could catch this courser then make a quick detour that would land them right on Winlock’s doorstep. It didn’t go quite as smoothly as he had hoped, of course. It never did. The trek back through the radiated sea was somehow more horrific the second round. By the time they reached the old college, MacCready and Jack felt as though they could fall asleep right there amidst the ash and ruins. 

At least the air was fresher.

They stole a small moment to fortify and rebuild their strength. It had been almost two days since they slept, possibly three and Jack knew if they didn’t bunker down somewhere soon they would get sick from exhaustion. Out here in this world, doctors knew more about patching bullet wounds than curing diseases. You had a better chance of surviving from getting shot than you did at catching the flu and that was a fate Jack didn’t want. Not for him and especially not for RJ. Jack glanced at the war-weary mercenary with unconditional solicitude. There was there was no way he had expected to suddenly be tied into a man’s search for his lost child. Jack insisted they push on when Mac insisted they take it easy, that Shaun would still be there when the sun rose. It had been a tough road in such a short amount of time, yet he stayed. And he never asked questions about Jack’s pre-war past or his family.

Maybe he didn’t care, or maybe he just figured Jack didn’t want to talk about it.

As if he were listening to his thoughts, RJ spoke, “Came out here from the Capital Wasteland, ya know. There was all kinds of weird ruins like this down there.” His voice held a hint of longing, as if he wished he were back in the Capital.  
Jack, while he understood that feeling, flashed him a puzzled look. He began to fold away their cloaks as he replied, “What is that- D.C.? Why were you all the way out in the Capital?”  
“I was born there… I think. Grew up in this town run by kids called Little Lamplight.”  
“Wait- you’re saying there’s a settlement out there run by _children?_ ”  
MacCready chuckled, “There’s probably more towns run by kids than we know about. It seemed to work for us. There was something about adults that we couldn’t trust. That’s why they kicked you out once you hit sixteen.”  
“Must have been… brave of you guys. A bunch of kids living alone like that.”  
“We all had our own jobs and watched out for one another. Lookin’ back on it… I think we were just lucky,” He then chuckled to himself again as Jack smiled at his friend’s light amusement and handed him the other half of their clean water. “Can you believe I was the mayor for a while? _Me?_ ”

With a sincere promise to get some shut eye once the mission was done, they tracked the courser’s signal through the pip-boy to a building called Greentech Genetics. No amount of sleep could have prepared them for what waited inside: gunner’s packed to the brim in their own pursuit to take down the courser who also seemed to be on its own mission. Once they’d made it to the top floor, Jack could hardly hear himself speak through the ringing in his ears gifted to him by the constant clang of gunfire.  
_“Are you here for the synth?”_  
“Oh, uh, I need two large pepperonis and a calzone. Name is… **Fuck You**.” 

The fight then pursued so fast that once the courser’s blood ran red at his feet, Jack could hardly stop panting; an unusual occurrence for him. A bead of sweat trickled down his temple and met the fresh wound that ran from his hairline down past his ear. He felt the trail of sweat and red iron tickle his stubble. Only when he went to wipe it off did he finally notice and feel the stab of pain from the gash. Jack pulled his hand away and winced at its shiny red surface. “Damn…”  
“If they had just aimed a little lower…”  
“ _Heh_ , shut up.”  
MacCready, though looking white as a ghost, snickered.  
_“Help! I’m the synth he was talking about, just open the door and hear me out! Please!”_  
That’s exactly what Jack did: he listened and empathized with the young synth that called herself Jenny and safely sent her on her way without an ounce of suspicion. “Ya think that was a good idea?” MacCready inquired softly as he patched a bullet graze on his arm.  
“It was. She seemed like a good kid just trying to escape captivity.”  
“… Yer right.” 

Lady Luck met up with them at a nearby settlement a couple hours or so from C.I.T. They found a merchant to help them stock back up on ammo and medicine. Most importantly, they had a fire to cook food and a bed to bunker down. Although Jack hadn’t saved them through the minutemen, the settlers offered the boys their extra bedrolls and water in exchange for Jack and MacCready’s mere presence. Two armed and kind gentlemen were a rarity in the Commonwealth and just having them around was enough security for… anyone. They sat together beside the fire for a bit of time into the night, talking until exhaustion overcame them. Jack and RJ awoke by late morning to keep moving. 

By evening, they had made it to the very spot in the bushes of which they lurked. Even after all the two had survived through, ambushing an entire company of gunner’s by themselves would require a good degree of strategy. Yet at the same time, they would have no choice but to improvise. It was a tricky mission, but one Jack was determined to save MacCready’s life once and for all. It had become more about that than just simply eliminating another obstacle in his search for Shaun. Out of all the friends he had made in this new world he woke up in, Jack felt as though Mac was the one he needed at his side. They worked well together and, eventually, had come to get along very well. The idea of anything happening to him ignited the same knotting flame in Jack’s gut that mostly came to life whenever his mind suddenly wandered to the memory of the tragedy in the vault. 

“Looks like there’s one guarding the elevator that heads up to the overpass and two on ground.”  
MacCready lowered his scope and looked at Jack for a response.  
“Once we get close enough, I want you to watch my flank and snipe out those two while I quietly put the other one to sleep.”  
“Grade A plan as always, boss. Here’s the thing- yer weapons are _loud_.”  
Jack pulled the combat knife from a holster resting at his leathered hip with a sardonic half-smile. “Remember this guy?” 

The first phase of their plan was executed as smoothly as Jack hoped. Once they reached Mass Pike, the sun had set. MacCready kept his distance and took out the two gunner’s cleanly giving Jack the perfect opportunity to leap from the shadows. His strength overpowered the remaining gunner as he pulled them in hard and swiftly by the mouth with one hand and effortlessly slit their throat with the other. MacCready approached from his own position in the shadows while Jack used the straw-like grass to clean blood off his knife before sheathing it away. 

“What now? That was almost too dam- _darn_ easy.”  
“Now…” he looked up briefly, then back to RJ.”… we survive, like we have been.” Jack straightened to meet RJ’s eyes as he said the words. He caught a glimpse of fear and admiration alike in the sparkle of Mac’s light blue irises and the young man dropped his gaze to turn away. Seized by impulse, Jack stepped forward and grabbed his arm, giving it a soft, reassuring squeeze. “They won’t be bothering you anymore and I promise I’ll do anything to make sure you live to see that.” He could feel the tension in MacCready’s bones and eyes loosen slowly as he said the words and Jack reluctantly released his grip, not wanting to step away from the warmth that always glowed between them. 

A raucous roar of laughter came from above, breaking their small moment of peace. Good. They weren’t aware that the boys were here. If only Jack had known that their good fortune would run out almost as fast as they had earned it. Once the elevator latched to the bridge, their eyes met a red-headed women dressed in military fatigues wrapped in combat armor who looked at them with sheer surprise. Not a single second more was wasted before she clumsily stepped forward to pistol whip MacCready. Jack stepped in front and grabbed her forearm, then dropped his weapon to bring in a right hook to her stomach. She fell to her knees from the blow and then, still holding her arm straight, Jack brought down his elbow snapping her arm easily like a twig. The laser pistol fell from her limp hand into his with a cry that ultimately alerted the rest of the gunners. He quickly stuck the pistol to her eye and pulled the trigger one good time to fry her brain dead. 

It had all happened within two short breaths. 

MacCready dashed to cover without so much as a, _I can protect myself_. Which caught Jack off guard, enough that he saw the Assaultron coming at him just a moment too late. He dropped the pistol and retrieved his own weapon, then boldly pressed forward to bash the feminine robot away before realizing that it was quicker than him. And stronger. It swung its metal arm and Jack stepped back to evade it bringing his weapon up to block his face. A shattering blow met his ribs and his breath felt knocked from him as he stumbled back into the road block from the force. Jack reacted fast and leaped over the slab of concrete to briefly find cover. His breathing was shallow and caused sharp pain in his side. Dread spread throughout his chest. At least two of his left ribs were broken and when he tried to examine it, he found that there was also a fresh bloody wound ripped into his vault suit just below the leather strappings. 

_Shit. Not a good start._

In the heat of battle while his adrenaline was still pumping, Jack would be able to fight through the injury. Though, if they survived this, he would wind down and then putting his arms above his head or simply sneezing would be agonizing. He’d broken a rib as a child but this was worse. 

“Ya boys got tired of suckin’ each other’s dicks so ya came to get a taste of mine, huh?!”  
He sneered and opened his mouth to give the asshole a reply before RJ beat him to it, “Ya’d like that wouldn’t ya Winlock?”  
Jack peaked over his cover to evaluate the situation just in time to see a grenade fly through the air and land almost bullseye between Winlock and three other gunners. He heard one scream before the explosion thundered all around them and sprayed fire and blood along with an arm and a leg or two. Jack shuddered at that, but it’d carved their way to a potential victory. 

_Nice one, partner._

Jack took advantage of the panic and leaped back over from his cover with a slight wince. His rib was more broken than he had thought. Ignoring it for now, he thought on his toes and retrieved the dented lid of a trashcan to use as a shield. He caught a gunner advancing on him at the corner of his eye and, with another twinge of pain, cleverly swung the lid up fast, smashing the man away with an uppercut. He should have finished them off, but he had no chance once he realized that the Assaultron was currently charging its devastating laser to finish him off first. The blast shot from the robot like deadly projectile vomit and Jack threw the makeshift shield up in retaliation. It saved him from being fried to death, but the force of the laser threw him off his feet and back into the road block. His back hit the concrete hard making him grimace and nearly blind from the pain in his side and if he had been smaller built and unarmored, the impact might have just broke his spine as well. The heat had begun to radiate to the other side of the lid and the melting of the aluminum was tangible, but the will to live kept the shield over him no matter how much his hands began to feel seared. 

_“Jack! Hang on!”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter took a different turn and outcome than I originally planned, but I like it~ I'm going to build up their romance like crazy sorry not sorry stay tuned


	4. Desire Be Desire Go

MacCready stayed in his cover as he reloaded the clip, breathing steadily to ease the trembling of his hands all the while trying not to fall prey to the windstorm of bullets. He felt his heart race intensely and he couldn’t decide if it was because they were wildly outnumbered- or because Jack was in a position that he could _die_.

He hopped over the road block and advanced on the assaultron quickly, tackling it to the ground with all his might and forcing its deadly laser to a halt. With an ache in his bones, he had to have hurt himself more than the robot. Though MacCready had it down and he took his gun before it could throw him off and brought down the stock on the assaultron’s face as hard as he could. _WHAM_. He brought it back up and then back down again. _WHAM_. Then one last time with more strength driven from the adrenaline and the war cry that escaped from his throat. _WHAM_. That was that.

At the corner of his eye he saw Jack throw away what was left of the melted aluminum and attempt to stand back on his feet. Usually the big guy was quicker on his toes than MacCready in combat. That meant something was wrong.

When Jack finally got his bearings, he brought up the stock of his own gun with a noticeable wince to bash away a gunner trying to take advantage of his brief moment of weakness and then pumped them clean with lead. MacCready looked up and caught a glimpse of the bloody gash dug into the side of the man’s vault suit.

_He was hurt._

_“Jack-“_

A dark feeling of impending doom came over MacCready when he heard the familiar shout of Barnes. He could hear the raider’s hasty footsteps coming up behind him and he rolled over right as Barnes brought down his knife that then clanged off the concrete. MacCready got to his feet in time to see Jack take Barnes by the throat and slam him up against the steel of the gunners’ makeshift shelter.

Barnes swiped up with his knife to slash Jack right in the jaw, leaving a small carve in his stubble, but he was stronger and hardly phased. He slammed the dark-skinned man by his throat onto the concrete with striking force, causing him let out something between a choke and a cry. Jack straddled him down and followed it with a jaw crushing blow delivered by his fist, then tore the knife from the other man’s hand. Barnes shoved off Jack’s attempted knife attack and socked him right in his rib wound. Jack let out an agonized sound that MacCready had never heard before and Barnes pushed him off to now straddle him.

_“You’re really startin’ to piss me off!”_ MacCready ran up and kicked Barne’s square in the chest off of Jack. The raider got to his feet, looking at him with murder in his eyes. He grabbed Mac by the collar and kneed him square in the stomach, following with a hard punch to his nose. MacCready’s weapon clattered away as he hurled to the ground. “NO!”

Gee was he bad at knock down drag outs. He rolled onto his stomach to push through the pain and crawled towards his weapon. Barnes violently pulled MacCready back over by the shoulder and then took his neck with both hands in a crushing grip to strangle him once and for all.

“Times up Mac- _AGH_ -“

A knife punched through the back of his throat, blade showing itself just below his chin, and the murder in his eyes glazed over in fear at his defeat. MacCready coughed and heaved as he regained his breath while Jack pulled Barnes up off of MacCready by the knife in an unsettling fashion and dragged the man over to the edge of the bridge. He kicked Barnes in the back letting the weapon go with him as they both plummeted to the ground.

And then it was over.

MacCready’s body ached and he panted. When he looked up, he saw that he wasn’t breathing nearly as shallow as Jack. An unusual sight. He forced himself onto his feet and, after a short stumble, took the vault boy’s side by the bridge. Jack held his hand on his wound and looked at Mac with those brown, wild eyes. But they relaxed at the sight of MacCready’s contrasting icy blues. Without a word, the two pulled each other into a tight hug that seemed to last forever while the nighttime breeze brushed over them in comfortable silence.

They held one another for a time, as if the world was ending all over again, before Jack released him and walked back into the battle zone. “We should bunker down, then loot this place in the morning.”  
“ _Hey_ , ya okay?” MacCready asked after him in an uncharacteristically gently tone.  
“I’m fine,” Jack’s reply was quick and brash, as though he were trying to shrug off the question. Mac was hardly convinced and began to follow him.  
“Ya know, uh, this is gone give me a few weeks’ worth of nightmare fuel, but... _Thanks_. I mean it.”  
“Any time, _partner_ ,” Jack turned to look at him with a weary smile that made MacCready’s stomach leap with a warmth he hadn’t felt since Lucy. He looked so heroic and… _handsome_.

That’s when they heard the rapid beeping.

_“MOVE!”_ Jack shouted and shoved MacCready before stepping back just enough to keep all his limbs. Mac stumbled and, thinking quickly, dropped to the ground so hard that his chin bounced off the concrete. He drew his hands up over his head and watched as the frag mine shattered with a brief but powerful enough explosion to send Jack flying off his feet. Then he disappeared through the smoke.

_**“JACK!”** _

MacCready could hardly hear himself through the ringing in his head, but he pushed himself back up before the smoke cleared and ran hastily to find him. “Jack!” he yelled, heart racing so fast that he could hardly breathe. Once he waved off a wall of smoke he saw the big guy laying a couple paces away, motionless on his stomach.

_“Jack!”_

He dropped to one knee by Jack’s side and, with a little extra effort of strength, rolled him onto his back. “ _Please_ don’t be dead,” MacCready laid his ear to Jack’s heart. “ _Please_. Not after all this…”

There was still a pulse.

He released a deep sigh of relief, but he didn’t move yet. Instead he stayed there with his head rested on Jack, letting time slip by for a while as he found comfort in the man’s warmth and still beating heart. After he calmed and eased the nervous shaking of his breath, MacCready finally stood. He rushed to find a stimpack and clean water, rummaging through shelter after shelter where he found water and only when he checked the pocket of a dead gunner did he _finally_ find what he really needed.

After ripping away a strip of sheet, Mac rushed back to Jack’s side and unzipped the torso portion of his vault suit to peel the sleeves off of his muscular arms and down to his waist to reveal and even more chiseled torso. There he saw the blood filled wound. If he didn’t act quickly, radiation would seep its way in sooner than later. He planted the stimpack right in the gash. Jack stirred and winced, closed lids fluttering, but he remained unconscious. Slowly the wound freed itself of infection and the surrounding area faded to pink like a fresh cat scratch.

Jack began to pull air into his lungs more deeply, his skin regained its natural tan and the red blush of his nose and cheeks came back as well. MacCready poured water onto the wound to finger wash the blood away, then took the torn piece of cloth and tied it around his torso to potentially clot the blood.

He stood and hooked both of his arms beneath Jack’s to drag him to the nearest mattress, but MacCready nearly fell over from the shock of just how _heavy_ he was. “ _Geeze_ , whattya’ made of… rocks?” he muttered, hooking his arms around Jack’s even tighter this time. It had to be purely muscle weight he was compensating for. He dragged Jack along with a slow pace and found the deed to be an even more trying workout than the fight to the death they had survived. Yet, he was determined to get the big buy to a proper resting place. So after a few minutes of grunting and pulling, the smaller man finally had Jack in one of the shelters and on a mattress. He placed a dirty pillow beneath his head.

MacCready slumped back against the steel walls with another sigh. Time slipped by again as he found comfort in watching Jack’s chest rise and fall with deep breaths that filled the silence. He reached into his coat pocket, relieved when he found his lighter and pack of cigarettes that were, by a miracle, slightly crumbled. The acrid, bitter smoke filled his lungs but it eased each and every shot nerve in his body. He then admired that peaceful expression on Jack’s face while he slept and even began to feel the heat in his body rise at how defined the man’s muscles were. He even loved the way Jack’s dark hair always looked washed and neat, reflecting how his prewar days were hardly far behind him. Then Mac caught himself…

_This had to stop._

MacCready, swift and abrupt, got to his feet to put out the cigarette beneath his boot and slung his rifle and pack over his shoulder. He couldn’t get attached to another person. Not again. This world was too dangerous to care for others. He had learned that the hard way. The only person he could let himself care for was his son who was now sick and drifting from him, too. Jack had saved MacCready’s life by helping him wipe out his old gang and now he had returned the favor. As much as he needed the man’s help in finding that cure for Duncan, he knew this was for the best. If there was any chance to leave, it was _now_.

When he turned to leave, a pang of guilt quickly rose up and tightened in his chest. So he gave Jack a reluctant glance over his shoulder and grimaced. He reached into his bag to retrieve a couple of cigarettes and placed them into the small pouch of two-hundred and fifty caps.

Ignoring that leaping warmth in his belly, he walked back over Jack and knelt down where he lifted the man’s strong hand that rested on his chest to gently place the pouch beneath it. MacCready let his own hand rest upon Jack’s for a minute and he took in everything he had come to adore about the man, knowing this was the last time he would see him. He brushed back a few loose strands of dark hair with his other hand, with affection, as he whispered…

_“…. So long, partner.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> not sure if this really has much of a following, but I apologize it took me so long to pump this chapter out! I didn't even realize how long it's been since I last updated. in all honestly, I considered not finishing this as I am not sure how or when it's going to end. though that makes it all the more fun and I love Jack/Mac too much to stop now <3 
> 
> stay tuned!!!!


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